MotoGP, Ciabatti and Bagnaia’s crash at Misano: “It hurts”

Pecco Bagnaia’s crash put paid to any chance Ducati had of securing the rider’s title, which has instead gone to a Fabio Quartararo who has been the strongest, objectively speaking, throughout the course of the season. The Italian did all he could to keep the title fight alive and winning at Misano would have been so significant for him, particularly on the day of Valentino Rossi’s last Italian race, but the dream went up in smoke four laps from the end.

Ciabatti: "The chances were small"

“We’re disappointed of course” admits Paolo Ciabatti while speaking to motogp.com, “Pecco was running a fantastic race, pushing hard out front. A crash like that hurts, especially five laps from the end, although the chances of keeping the title fight alive were small of course, he needed to win and hope that Quartararo finished further back in order to keep on fighting at Portimao”. The 52-point lead that the Frenchman had built was significant, but we know how unpredictable motorcycling can be at times.

The aim for the last two races

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Un post condiviso da Ducati Corse (@ducaticorse)

The Italian went on to congratulate the 2021 MotoGP world champion: “Congratulations to Quartararo and Yamaha, they really ran a great championship and deserve the title”. But he’s already looking to the future too: "Our aim is the constructor’s title. We’re lying first and have scored more important points at Misano thanks to Enea Bastianini (third). We want to win the constructor’s title again”. And as for 2022, the dream remains very much alive: "Next year will be exciting, we’ll try to get our own back".

Translated by Heather Watson

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